Our second beach vacation of the year took us to Gulf Shores, Alabama for a week of R&R. Unfortunately, a "tropical disturbance" had the same travel plans.

With rain and red flag conditions on the beach on Day 1, we headed to the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. It was incredible and a must-visit when you're in the area. The museum is home to many retired combat aircraft. While that's extremely interesting on its own, there are many combat veterans who volunteer their time to take you on guided tours, giving you insight you wouldn't get anywhere else. A+ experience.

We continued our off and on battle with the weather the entire week, getting our sun and sand time in where we could. The other big highlight of the trip was our visit to the USS Alabama in Mobile.

We began the tour as a family, but after an hour or two it turned into Colt and I exploring every crack and crevice of the ship - which, believe me, we did. I think we may have wondered into some off-limits areas, but don't tell anyone! We did run across some active military rescue exercises...and the troops went out of their way to be extra nice to Colt - picture an Army Ranger repelling down an elevator shaft talking to Colt through a window. It was too cool a moment for me to whip out the camera, so while there are no pictures of that, there are plenty of others. Click the pic above to check them out!